Two Words for a Heart
by 42Lia
Summary: When England turns up on Spain's door step, the latter never expected his former rival to request a favor from him: "You want to learn Spanish!" Boy x boy fiction. Don't like, don't read!


Two words for a heart

"Antonio … I need you to teach me Spanish."

If Antonio were eating one of his tomatoes at that moment, he would have choked to death. Luckily he wasn't and was instead staring in utter shock at the blond Englishman in front of him.

Arthur had suddenly appeared on his doorstep saying he had an important favour to ask of him. Antonio had really enjoyed hearing the word 'favour' come out of his rival's grumpy face. Arthur clearly was reluctant to the idea but apparently had no choice in the matter. After Antonio had let him in, Arthur had fidgeted for almost twenty minutes before finally asking him his help.

"Excuse me? YOU want to learn SPANISH?"

Arthur bit his lip with annoyance with his cheeks slightly pink from his anger and embarrassment. He really hated being in this situation!

"You heard right. I … want to learn Spanish."

"Since when? You never were interested in my language before." Antonio asked after he had recovered from the shock. Now he was curious as to why England, of all people, wanted to learn Spanish?

"I'm still not interested but … my boss wants me to learn more of the other European languages, since Britain is now part of the European Union and everything … waste of time in my opinion since English has become the official language for diplomacy and business but … it's an order from my boss so I really don't have much choice in the matter! So? Will you help me or not?" Arthur asked and then glared at the Spaniard.

Antonio still wasn't done questioning.

"But … why me? What about France or Germany or Italy?"

"France? Are you kidding? Now way am I getting lessons from him! Besides, I now French already from when I was under French control when I was young. German, I already learned it when we were spying on the Axis during the two world wars. As for Italian, Romano agreed to teach me on the condition that I show him a picture of Scotland in a kilt. Besides, apart from French, not many other European languages is as world wide spread as yours. They speak Spanish in South America and in some countries in Africa. Although it despises me to admit it but your language is one that I can't avoid, sadly." Arthur explained with an exasperated tone.

Antonio jumped on his feet (they were both seated at a table, face to face) and pressed his hand against Arthur's forehead. Arthur looked at him with confusion before shoving his hand away.

"What are you doing, now?"

"I was just making sure you didn't have a fever or weren't sick!"

"Bloody hell! I told you that it was my boss' order! Why the hell would I want to learn your fucking language otherwise? Actually, forget it! I don't need your help! I'll ask someone else!"

Arthur got up and was about to leave in pure rage when his arm was grabbed by Antonio.

"Someone else? Who could possibly teach you Spanish better than Spain? Don't worry Inglaterra! I'll teach you all you need to know!"

Arthur glared at his grinning friend. He knew Antonio was enjoying his weakness but right now, he didn't have much choice. He still hadn't managed to get Scott's permission to send a picture of him in a kilt to Romano. Spain was his last choice.

"Fine. Where do we start?"

A month passed and Arthur had become able to understand and read basic Spanish. Every day Arthur and Antonio would spend practicing Spanish. Sometimes they would go out and visit Spain as to get more real life experiences and although, he'd never admit it, Antonio was impressed at how quickly Arthur was grasping his native tongue. Not only that, he was actually enjoying his time with the Englishman. For once, they weren't fighting and Arthur was actually a very pleasant company.

February was well underway when Antonio decided to play a trick on Arthur.

"Hola Arturo! ¿Sabes qué día es hoy? »

« El 14 de febrero, ¿por qué? »

« ¡No! ¡No! Es el día de Valentín! »

« ¿Y qué? »

« ¡Vamos! No sea tan aburrido! Hoy en día, te voy a enseñar algo útil para confesar tu amor! »

"No, gracias. Yo no necesito que me enseñes eso. Sólo se adhieren a los españoles."

"¿Qué? Pero yo lo voy a enseñar a usted en español!"

"What are you talking about, Antonio?"

Antonio leaned towards Arthur and with a devilish grin whispered in his ear.

"Te amo!"

Arthur looked at the grinning Spaniard with surprise and confusion. Eventually he just shrugged it off as one of Spain's classic jokes and tease. Antonio was a bit annoyed. He thought he would have made England blush with embarrassment but Arthur didn't seem to care at all.

"No eres tan lindo!" Antonio mumbled before getting back to the lesson.

The lesson went well from Arthur's point of view, except that Antonio was extremely pissed for no good reason. From Antonio's point of view … well, he was too pissed to enjoy the lesson. He was still offended that he, Spain, the country of passion, hadn't even made Arthur blush only slightly!

At the end of the day, Arthur was about to leave when he turned to Antonio.

"By the way, Antonio."

"Si?"

"Te amo."

Antonio's eyes widened and he felt a sudden blush on his face. Was Arthur confessing? His pulse accelerated and he felt slightly dizzy. Wait! Why was he feeling like this? Arthur's emerald eyes were staring at him so seriously … he really had beautiful eyes …

"What did that mean anyway?" Arthur asked.

Antonio felt his heart stop as he realises that Arthur hadn't understood the two words.

"It means …"

Arthur waited but Antonio still didn't answer.

"It means …?" Arthur tried to encourage his friend.

Antonio's face was beetroot red. Why couldn't he say it? He was just translating and it was originally just a joke! Why were the two words spoken by Arthur still ringing in his mind?

"It means I … I … lo … like you … very, very, very, very much …"

"I … like you? That's all? I actually thought it probably meant I love you! It sounded similar to je t'aime in French so …"

"Its … that's … I …"

"Are you feeling alright, Antonio?"

"Si! I'm fine! Grazias! You … you're leaving?"

"Yes, it's getting late but I'll see you tomorrow."

"Si … tomorrow …"

"Bye Antonio." Arthur shouted as he got into his care. Only when the car was out of sight did Antonio answer back.

"Adios … mi amor …"

Those two simple words not even spoken with awareness had drastically changed Spain's life. This was the first time in his life that someone had spoken those words to him. In the days to come, Arthur would frequently use those two words inadvertently while talking about things he liked … and it sometimes included Antonio. Each time, Antonio would feel his heart pound and his body shiver nervously. Antonio never was loved as he grew up and almost felt envious of Arthur who had so many brothers and was taken care of by Francis … he, himself, was still not speaking to his own brother. Maybe he had felt jealous of all the love declarations Francis would shout at England (even if he was just teasing). It was the first time … anyone spoke those words to him … and in Spanish too. Even Romano never did but that's because he's too stubborn. How could just two words catch a heart like that? It all depends on the people speaking the two words.

In the car, driving Arthur back home, the blond man smiled.

"You thought you could fool me like that, Antonio? Seriously! After all the times I heard Francis declare randomly to me, don't expect me to take anyone seriously anymore especially on Valentine's day! That prank was so obvious! And he actually bought my excuse of not understanding the words? After all this time I spent learning his damn language, how many times have I heard those words? Each time he's on the phone with Romano he says it at least a thousand times! He really is clueless! That was a good pay back though! The look on his face was priceless … … he actually looked kind of cute … well, for a Spanish bastard!"

Arthur felt happy with himself and decided to keep on using those words as much as he could in front of Antonio. That would be a laugh! As long as … he didn't fall for his own trick.

Translation:

Hello Arthur! Do you know what day it is today?

The 14th of February, why?

No! No! It's Valentine's day!

So?

Come on! Don't be so boring! Today, I'm teaching you something useful for confessing your love!

No thanks. I don't need you to teach me that. Just stick to the Spanish.

What? But I'm going to teach it to you in Spanish!

I love you

You're so not cute!


End file.
